The present invention relates to the field of motor vehicles, and more particularly relates to an engine control system in a combination motor vehicle system of a basically new configuration.
In the use of modern family cars, it is very usual for such a car to be operated with one or at the most two people riding therein, along with a small amount of luggage which is being carried. That is to say, although the normal passenger car of today is able comfortably to carry four or five people and quite a lot of luggage, in practice according to modern lifestyles such a four seater passenger car is not usually used to its full capacity. In particular, during the everyday life of the average nuclear family, the principal day to day uses of a passenger car are either for a wage earning member of the family to commute to and fro between home and office, or for a home making member of the family to undertake local errands such as shopping, taking children to and from school, and the like. In both of these operational modes, the full capacity of the average modern passenger car is not used.
However, of course, from the point of view of family togetherness and fun, the not so frequently used mode of operation of a modern family car, in which it is used to carry all the family members, such as the spouses and their children for a weekend outing or the like, is very important, although this operational mode in fact may not account for a high proportion of the actual distance and time the vehicle is used. It would be quite unacceptable for the modern family car not to possess such a high capacity potential, although this potential is not in fact used very often. Since a normal passenger vehicle such as a car which is capable of carrying four or five persons and a fair quantity of luggage, i.e. which is capable of comfortably transporting the average family, necessarily must be constructed with quite a large and heavy body, and accordingly requires an engine of a suitably high power output to move this body, the problem has arisen that, during the abovementioned habitual under capacity use of such a car, a considerable amount of fuel is wasted.
Further, such a full size passenger car is again, according to the abovementioned concept of potential to handle the maximum possible likely load, typically constructed in such a fashion that it is able to operate for extended periods at high road speeds, such as during expressway driving. However, again, in practical use, this expressway operating capacity is not very often required, especially during commuting or during short local shopping trips.
A further cause of waste and unnecessary expense in the present life style of many families is due to the fact that several road vehicles such as passenger cars are often provided for the different members of the family. For example, in the usual case when one member of the family commutes to and fro between home and work daily, while another member of the family remains in or in the general vicinity of the home in order to supervise the children or the like, the requirement has arisen for each of these family members to be in possession of his or her own car, and according to this two car ownership by the average family has become very common in the developed world. Especially nowadays, as urban sprawl progresses, many new suburban or so called satellite developments are being constructed in areas where public transport facilities are poor or nonexistent, and in such areas the provision of at least two cars for the average family has become almost a necessity. It is also the case that in many regions of the world public transport facilities are being contracted in their size and in the frequency of their operations, and accordingly, again, the tendency towards multi car ownership in the average family has been increasing. Further, the general rise in income levels of the population has also contributed to this tendency.
However, since it has heretofore been the case that each of the multiple vehicles owned by a multi car family is a full size car, the aforesaid energy wastage due to under capacity operation of these cars, and the amount of renewable and non renewable resources such as steel, glass, rubber, and the like, employed in the production and maintenance of these multiple full size cars, have a tendency to become very excessive. Also, even with the present high income levels in developed areas of the world, the cost of maintaining and operating two separate full sized cars is often quite a burden for the average middle class family. a combination car system, comprising: (a) a first car, capable of running independently, comprising a first pair of front wheels by which said first car is driven, a first pair of rear wheels, a first engine, a first braking system, and a first transmission; said first engine, said first braking system, and said first transmission, when said first car is running independently, being controlled from said first car; and (b) a second car, capable of running independently, comprising a second pair of front wheels, a second pair of rear wheels by which said second car is driven, a second engine, a second braking system, and a second transmission; said second engine, said second braking system, and said second transmission, when said second car is running independently, being controlled from said second car; (c) said first car and said second car being couplable together into a coupled car which runs on said first pair of front wheels of said first car and said second pair of rear wheels of said second car, with said first pair of rear wheels of said first car and said second pair of front wheels of said second car being removed from road contact; at that time: (c1) the operation of said first engine of said first car being coupled to the operation of said second engine of said second car, so that the combined operation of both said first engine and said second engine is controlled from said first car; (c2) the operation of said first braking system of said first car being coupled to the operation of said second braking system of said second car, so that the combined operation of said first braking system and said second braking system is controlled from said first car; (c3) and said second transmission of said second car being controlled from said first car; (d) whereby said combination car system as a whole may be operated by a person sitting in said first car; whereby a dual transport facility is available, either for a fairly large number of people and/or baggage to be transported in one fairly large sized vehicle, or for two independent vehicles to be available, each capable of carrying a fairly small number of persons and/or baggage to different destinations at the same time; whereby family life may be promoted.
According to such a construction, when the first car and the second car are running independently, one of them may be used by the wage earning member of the family to commute to and fro between home and office or workplace, while the other may be used by the home making member of the family to perform short local shopping trips or the like; and, during this operational mode, in which neither of the cars is required to carry more than two people and a modest amount of luggage, the small size of each of the first car and the second car, (which is a matter of course, due to their basic construction), ensures that their individual operation is not wasteful of fuel. On the other hand, when the entire family wishes to travel together in one car, which would be quite impractical in either the first or the second car running independently by itself, because of space limitations, then the first car and the second car may be coupled together so as to form the coupled or combination car, and in this operational mode an entire average family, along with a fair quantity of their baggage, may conveniently and comfortably travel for an extended period, such as on an expressway. Accordingly, in this operational mode, again, a car is provided which is of an appropriate size and capacity adapted to the work which it is required to perform.
It is preferable, for operational smoothness, according to a particular aspect of the above described construction, that the transmission of the second or rear car is an automatic transmission.
Further, according to various particular aspects of the above described construction, the front wheels of the first car and the rear wheels of the second car may be larger in diameter, respectively, than the rear wheels of the first car and the front wheels of the second car. This is in order to ensure convenience in storage or disposal of the rear wheels of the first car, and the front wheels of the second car, when the first and the second car are coupled together to form the combination car.
It may be considered that this difference in size between the wheels on the front and rear axles of the first and second cars would deteriorate the riding characteristics of the first car and of the second car, when these cars are used on their own. However, because these cars are not operated separately, typically, at very high speeds or for very great distances, this will not in practice cause any severe problem, although of course the comfortableness of the separately operated first and second cars will be somewhat inferior to those of a normal full sized automobile. On the other hand, these cars provide great convenience in parking, requiring less space for occupation, and being much easier to put into and to take out of such a space.
Further, according to another particular aspect of the above described construction, it is possible for these superfluous rear wheels of the first car and these superfluous front wheels of the second car, when the first and the second car are coupled together into the combination car, to be stored below, respectively, the second car and the first car. Alternatively, according to another particular aspect of the above described construction, it is possible for the superfluous rear wheels of the first car to be stored above the first car, and for the superfluous front wheels of the second car to be stored above the second car, during operation of the combined car. These various suggestions provide good stowability for these unwanted wheels, during coupled operation of the combination car.
When the first car and the second car are operated in the coupled form as the combination car, the fact that all four wheels of this combination car are driven--the front wheels by the engine of the first car, and the rear wheels by the engine of the second car--ensures that the operational characteristics of this combination car are excellent. Since in the operation of the combination car it is to be expected that long distance high speed journeys such as expressway journeys will figure largely if not predominate, this is very important from the point of view of safety. At this time, further, because both the first engine of the first car, and the second engine of the second car, are being used for driving the combination car, thus the power available is high, and is suitable for high speed operation of quite a heavy motor vehicle.
It is of course inevitable that the first car and the second car, when operated independently, will have structures of unconventional appearance, since they essentially incorporate only the front or the back half, respectively, of a normal motor vehicle. Accordingly, there is a risk that these relatively light capacity vehicles by themselves when being operated in the separated mode will excite amusement and derision in the public. However, when these two rather unconventional vehicles are coupled together to form the combination car, then this vehicle, which will be of a large and impressive form, will strike admiration into the eyes and hearts of the beholders, and by its impressive majesty will quite rebut any criticism that may have been made of the lowly appearance of the separated cars. Accordingly, the owner or owners of the combination car system will be filled with self confidence and inspiration, and will certainly not be ashamed of the modest look of either the first car or the second car on its own, in view of the splendor of the combination car.
Further, as the production of the combination car system according to the above described construction becomes more and more widespread, and the concept thereof becomes well understood by the public, this will cause the beneficial social effect of discouraging the present, alas too widespread, social habit of regarding the size of a motor vehicle as indicative of the social status of its owner, although each of the first car and the second car is small and insignificant on its own, the combination car will certainly not be of an inferior appearance, or of a size appropriate to a lower class driver.
However, in such a combination car system of a construction as described above, a requirement arises for an engine control system. In more detail, as specified above, when the first car and the second car are coupled together to form the combination car, then the operation of the first engine of the first car should be coupled to the operation of the second engine of the second car, so that the combined operation of both the first engine and the second engine may be controlled from the first car, i.e. from the front part of the combination car. On the other hand, of course, when the first car and the second car are operating independently, the first engine of the first car should be controllable from the first car, and the second engine of the second car should be controllable from the second car. Accordingly, a requirement has arisen for an engine control system that can provide these two different operational modes.